Copy of The Civil Disobedience

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Transcript of Copy of The Civil Disobedience

Civil DisobedienceInfluenced by the writer Ralph Waldo EmersonIntroduced Thoreau to the ideas of transcendentalismIndividualism:http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/3651(cc) photo by theaucitron on FlickrBiographyFather pencil makerMaternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar Led Harvard´s "Butter Rebellion" (1776)The first student protestStudied at Harvard UniversityPeople was astonished the tranquility of how he faced deathDied at the age of 44Interesting Facts:Legend - He refused to pay his $5 for his Harvard diploma.He was an abolitionist.Thoreau is pronounced like the word "thorough"One of the first Americans that supported Darwin´s theory of evolution He was a vegetarian.He influenced Gandhi and MLK, Jr.Individuals are greater than any institution.Basic truths are arrived at through intuition.The inner soul leads to truth.Nature is significant.Nature leads to self-knowledge.Nature is good in comparison with society.The mind is all we need.The Over-soul is present.Be an individual.Each person should live for himself and follow his own interests and goals. Individual priorities over world concerns. Maintain their integrity by staying true to their values and concerns.Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Concord, Massachusetts.Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. It is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance.Martin Luther King:I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice.

*Martin Luther King*Leader in African-American Civil Rights Movement"I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement. Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice."MLK, Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968, at 39The most powerful weapons are truth noninjury, courage and soul force.October 1908 while Gandhi was in South AfricaRefused to pay the tax of twenty-five pounds imposed on all Indians by the South African Govt. This led to the arrest of Gandhi. Gandhi found Thoreau's essay on "Civil Disobedience" while he himself was undergoing a jail term. In 1931, Gandhi told American reporter Webb Miller, “Why of course I read Thoreau . . . I read Walden first in Johannesburg in South Africa in 1906,” said Gandhi, “and his ideas influenced me greatly.”In October 1908, Gandhi was in South AfricaHe refused to pay the tax of twenty-five pounds imposed on all Indians by the South African Govt. This led to his arrest. Gandhi found Thoreau's essay on "Civil Disobedience" while he himself was undergoing a jail term. In 1931, Gandhi told American reporter Webb Miller, “Why of course I read Thoreau . . . I read Walden first in Johannesburg in South Africa in 1906,” said Gandhi, “and his ideas influenced me greatly.”Gandhi was assassinated January 30, 1948, at 78.For Thoreau, King and Gandhi, nonviolent resistance was a state of mind as well as a method of activism. They transformed their rightful outrage from reflexive anger into reflective passion for justice and love of humanity.Logical AppealsThat government is best which governs not at all.Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also.Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reasons to despair of him.Its very Constitution is the evil.If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see to it that you are never cheated again. Men, generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil.The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be the only slaves. Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own freedom by his vote.Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?Ethical Appeals"Show me the tribute-money," said he--and one took a penny out of his pocket--if you use money which has the image of Caesar on it, and which he has made current and valuable, that is, if you are men of the State, and gladly enjoy the advantages of Caesar's government, then pay him back some of his own when he demands it. "Render therefore to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God those things which are God's"--leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which; for they did not wish to know.EmotionalAppealsI think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.The rich man--not to make any invidious comparison--is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.They who assert the purest right, and consequently are most dangerous to a corrupt StateWhat do you THINK?

Thus the state never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses.Henry David ThoreauI can explain Civil Disobedience and identify three types of appeals in art and reading.

Sometimes a government enforces a law that is intended to protect or benefit people but actually infringes on their rights, such as the right to free speech. Reflect for a few minutes on the policies or laws already existing or proposed in your school or community (curfews, dress codes, smoking regulations). Freewrite for a few minutes on what you think are the strongest arguments for and against one of these policies or laws. How does this impact your sense of justice?Logos: Consists of facts, examples, and well-reasoned arguments.Ethos: Arguments based on widely accepted values or moral standardsPathos: Consist of language and anecdotes that arouse strong feelingsTurn to p. 223 and create the chart as show in #2 on a whole sheet of paper in your journal; dividing the sections equally.Read"from

RESiSTANCE

to

Civil Government" p. 212-216As a class after reading,fill out appeal chart for Thoreau, including at least one quote for each type--the questions give you clues!Define JUSTICE in your own words.Take notes "on" Gandhi as you watch the film.Rate each statement, 1-8; 1 being the one you believe the most. Do not repeat numbers. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.~Martin Luther King, Jr.In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.~Albert EinsteinI have always found that mercy bears richer fruits that strict justice. ~Abraham LincolnBanksy:UK-based Graffiti artistPolitical ActivistFilm-director

Take a walk around the room, looking at the 13 different paintings (2 min.).Take a mini of the three paintings you can identify with each of the types of appealsPaste the mini in your journalNext to it, explain A. What the artist is trying to say, B. Which type of appeal and WHY, C. How does it apply to Civil Disobedience? Repeat x 2Read "from On Nonviolent Resistance" p. 220 and identify appeals in chart with a partner.Copy "on" MLK, Jr. one line that stands out to you.Read "from Birmingham City Jail" p. 221-222 and identify appeals on your own. Answer #5 p. 223-224There is a higher court that courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts. ~Mahatma GandhiAt his best, man is the noblest of animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.~AristotleJustice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.~Eleanor RooseveltJustice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.~PlatoJustice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant.~Henry David ThoreauUnder each, explain how you chose your #1 and #8.Which reading do you think best applies to the quote you chose? Be specific!Pair and Share: Tell a real-life story that impacted your sense of justice.In your journal, write down the whole story as if you are telling it to a friend.Review your IntroductionGrading RubricJustice Body ParagraphRevised draft due Monday!Review your definition of justice and your Quickwrite;After your Quickwrite titleTypes of Appeals

On a scrap piece of paper, answer:Who is Emerson?What is Transcendentalism?use your journal/put in box!